On September 11, 1978, Central Identification Laboratory–Thailand (CILT, now DPAA) identified the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Gaylord Dean Peterson, missing from the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant Colonel Petersen entered the U.S. Air Force from California and was a member of the 13th Bombardment Squadron. On September 11, 1967, he was the navigator aboard a B-57B Canberra (tail number 52-1510) that took off on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. While working with a Foward Air Control aircraft, the Canberra identified a truck moving along a road in a secondary target area; as the Canberra dropped its bombs it was hit by enemy ground fire. Immediately after it was hit, the damaged aircraft flew toward the Gulf of Tonkin, where it crashed along the coast of Quang Binh Province. Lt Col Petersen did not survive the crash and his remains were not recovered at the time of his loss. In 1976, the Vietnamese government repatriated human remains that U.S. analysts identified as those of Lt Col Petersen. 

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.